1. Start Illume Survey Manager by double clicking the icon on your desktop, or navigating to the survey manager from your Start menu.

2. Select New from the Survey menu.
   

3. Click on a Template. Survey templates determine how your survey will appear in a participant’s browser. The default template has a simple layout that looks the same on all major browsers and operating systems.
   

4. Enter the survey name.  The survey name must be at least 5 and no more than 64 characters long, must start with a letter and contain only numbers, letters, and the characters (,), _, and ‘.’.

5. Click Create Survey.
   

The Survey Designer resembles Windows Explorer, with a tree view on the left, and a building pane on the right. Every Illume survey contains a collection called “LOGIN”, which can be used for creating authenticated surveys.

To edit an existing survey, simply double-click on the survey name in the My Surveys tab of the Illume Survey Manager. If the survey does not appear under the My Surveys tab, the survey will need to be cloned or checked out from the Illume server. See “Checking Out a Survey“ for details.

Editing a Specific Language Within a Survey

If you have a license to the add-on “Translation Module” and your survey includes more than one language, you can view and edit the survey in any of its component languages. Simply select Language from the Edit menu within the Illume Survey Designer, and pick the language you want to work with.

The languages that appear in the list include all of the languages for which translations have been entered for the survey. The language marked by an asterisk (*) is the survey default language.

Editing a Published Survey

After a Survey has been published many of its attributes can be edited, and this editing can occur without interrupting live data collection.

The following types of changes can be made to a published survey:

Below is the List of things that are not possible within a Published Survey:

To display a list of all surveys on the Illume server:

1. Click on the Survey Administration tab of the Illume Survey Manager.
2. Click on All Results.

On the right pane will be a list of all surveys.  You can sort by Name or Project by clicking on the column header.

If a survey is checked out, the user to whom it is checked out can rename the survey under the My Surveys tab. Otherwise, the survey can be renamed under the Survey Administration tab. To rename a survey:

1. In the Illume Survey Manager, right click on the name of the survey, either under the My Surveys tab or under the Survey Administration tab.

2. Choose Rename from the context menu.

3. Type in the new name.

4. Click OK.

To check-in a survey means to return a copy of the survey to the Illume server. Once a survey is checked in to the Illume server, the survey can be checked out by others for review and editing, can be approved for publication, and can be made available to participants.  Checking in a survey also ensures a copy of the survey now lives on the server, rather than solely on a user’s desktop.  It is a good practice to check in a survey at the end of your workday to ensure a copy resides on the server.

When a survey is first created, it will appear in the My Surveys list with a version number of zero, and a status of new survey. The host will be listed as ‘localhost’, meaning the survey exists only on the user’s local computer — the Illume server does not have a copy of it.  If working with an existing survey that has been checked out from an Illume server, the version number will be greater than zero and the host will match the name of the Illume server from which the survey was checked out.

A user must be logged into the Illume server in order to check-in a survey. If not connected, reconnect by choosing “File Reconnect” from the Illume Survey Manager.

When connected to the Illume server, follow these steps to check a survey in:

1. Right click on the name of the survey in the My Surveys tab.

2. Select Check-in from the context menu.

3. (New Surveys Only) Type a description of the survey. This will be useful to help any survey editors distinguish this survey from others.

4. Choose one of the check-in options. These options appear for existing surveys only; these options will not be seen if checking in a new survey.

Check-in only: Return the survey to the Illume server. Choose this if there will be further revisions made to the survey.

Check-in and request approval: Return the survey to the Illume server and request approval from a user with the Reviewer role. Choose this if the survey is ready for publication but requires a reviewer’s approval.

Check-in and approve for publication: Approve the survey, making it nearly ready for publication. Only users with the Review or Administrator role can do this.

Check-in, approve, and publish: Check the survey in, approve it, and publish it, meaning it is now ready for publication  NOTE: When this option is chosen, a time period for publication must also be selected. See “Understanding Time Periods”.

Check-in as template only: Check this survey in as a template. A template is not a survey that is made available to participants. Rather it is used as a foundation on which to build other surveys.  For example, the template may include a logo or branding that can be used as a basis for future surveys.

Check-in as template only and request approval: Check this survey in as a template and request that the template be approved for use by others.

Check-in as template only and approve: Check this survey in as a template and approve it immediately so others can start building surveys with it.  When this option is selected, as users create a new survey they will see the template listed in the Choose Template dialogue.

5. For the first Check-in, select the project where the survey will be checked in. The Project is important because that will determine which users are able to view and edit both the survey and the associated data. The location of a survey within a project can be changed at a later time.

6. (Optional) Add check-in comments. These comments apply only to the current version of the survey. Every time a survey is checked in, new comments can be added. The comments are accessible through the survey’s Show History option.

7. Click OK.

Once OK is clicked, the survey is moved from the My Surveys tab, as Illume removes the local copy from the user’s machine. The survey will be moved to the Survey Administration tab.

To make further edits to the survey, it will have to be checked out from the Illume server. See Checking Out a Survey.

More on Survey Templates

Survey templates are special surveys that cannot be published for live data collection, but can be used as the basis for future surveys. A survey template may include a login page, header/footer, logos, frequently used images, or even a few stock questions that an organization may use on a regular basis.Templates can save survey designers the trouble of having to hunt down commonly used resources and can help to ensure that surveys maintain a consistent look and feel.

When an Illume user creates a new survey, they are presented with a list of templates upon which to build the survey. Initially, this list only includes Illume‘s Default Template.  Any survey that is saved as a template and approved will be added to the list of available templates and users will be able to create new surveys from those templates.

To edit an existing survey, it must first be checked out from the Illume server. Note that a user must be connected to the Illume server to check out a survey. If the Survey Administration tab is not in the Illume Survey Manager, a connection to the server has not been established. Choose File > Reconnect to connect to the server, and then follow the steps below.

1. In the Survey Administration tab, right click on the name of the survey that is to be checked out.

2. (Optional) Type comments, if desired. These comments will be available to anyone using or reviewing the survey’s history.

3. Click OK.

4. The survey will now appear in blue font on the My Surveys tab.

A user may not check-out any survey that is currently checked out to someone else. However, a read-only version of the survey is viewable by double-clicking on the survey name and answering yes when asked if a preview is desired. This will display all of the survey questions in printable form. The view is the same as the Preview Survey Layout option available from Illume Survey Designer‘s File menu.

Keep in mind that the read-only version is the last version checked in to the Illume server. It does not include any edits that may have been made by the person who currently has the survey checked out. Illume will display the name of the person who has the survey checked out in the Last Action column to the right of the survey name. Contact that person to check the survey back in order to access it.

If the person is unreachable, a Survey Administrator or Reviewer can cancel the other user’s check-out, but breaking a check-out can result in the loss of any changes a user has made to a survey.

In some cases, it may become necessary to cancel another user’s check-out. For example, if one user checks out a survey and then is away from work, other users may need to review or edit that survey. However, because the survey is checked out, the other users would be unable to gain access to it.

Users with the role Administrator or Reviewer are able to cancel another user’s check-out. Before doing this, be aware that canceling a check-out results in the loss of any changes the user made while he or she had the survey checked out.

When a check-out is cancelled, the master copy of the survey on the Illume server reverts to the version that the user had checked out. Whatever changes the user may have made to the survey remains in the user’s local copy of the survey, but these changes will not make it back to the Illume server.

To cancel another user’s checkout:

1. In the Survey Administration tab of the Illume Survey Manager, right click on the name of the survey whose checkout is being canceled.

2. Select the Cancel Check-out option from the context menu.

3. Click Yes when asked, ‘Are you sure you want to cancel this user’s checkout?’

To check whether a survey is valid, choose Tools / Validate Survey from the Survey Designer menu.  Validation also occurs automatically every time you Save your survey.   If the Survey Validator finds any problems, it will explain them.  You may save a survey that has validation errors, but you cannot check it in until the errors are resolved.

A survey may become invalid when any of the following occur:

• Someone edits the survey XML by hand and leaves the XML malformed. The survey is invalid because the XML is invalid.
• Question B includes text piped in from the response to question A, and then question B is moved from its original location, so that it now appears before question A. The survey is invalid because question B relies on information that it cannot possibly obtain.
• Question B includes a show-if condition that evaluates the response to question A, and then question B is moved from its original location, so that it now appears before question A. The survey is invalid because question B relies on information that it cannot possibly obtain.

Only Reviewers and Administrators can reject surveys.
To reject a survey:

1. In the Illume Survey Manager‘s Survey Administration tab, right click on the name of the survey being rejected.

2. Choose Reject from the context menu.

3. (Optional) Type comments, if desired. When rejecting a survey, it may be helpful to use the comment space to provide an explanation for the rejection. The comments will appear in the Survey’s history.

3. Click OK.

Rejected surveys cannot be published. They must be edited and resubmitted for approval before they can be published.

A survey’s description appears in the Illume Study Manager in the My Surveys or Survey Administration Tab.

To edit this description:

1. Select the survey in the Survey Administration tab.

2. Right-click Properties.

3. In the General tab edit the description in the Survey Description field.

4. Click OK.

Undoing Changes

Illume Survey Designer keeps track of up to 8 previous changes. To undo any of these changes choose the Edit Undo icon  from the Survey Designer menu, or press Control-Z. To redo any action that has been undone choose the Edit Redo icon  from the Survey Designer menu, or by pressing Control-R.

Illume surveys rely on two features for security: authentication and encryption.

Authentication

Authenticated surveys require survey participants or interviewers to provide some kind of credentials to access the survey. The individual designing the survey determines what the credentials will be. It may be a name/password combination or a simple user ID.  Associated to an authenticated survey is a participant list.  A participant list identifies the individuals who should be given access to a survey.  Illume validates each visitor’s credentials against the participant list before admitting the visitor into the survey.  If the credentials are valid, and if the credentials have not already been used for that survey, then the visitor is let in to the survey.

Illume supports both auto-authentication and manual authentication.   For auto-authenticated surveys, participants access the survey through a unique URL sent via an email.  That URL embeds their unique credentials, such that when the participant clicks the link, he/she is taken directly into the survey without ever needing to know or enter the credentials.   Alternatively surveys can be set up for manual authentication.  For this type of survey, participants are taken to a login page wherein they must enter their unique credentials to enter the survey.

Illume also supports unauthenticated surveys.  For these types of surveys, no credentials are required for entry.

Encryption

As participants move from page to page in a survey, the data are automatically encrypted and sent to the server.  Illume surveys hosted by DatStat use secure https connections with 128-bit encryption and signed SSL certificates. These settings are also the supported configuration requirements for most customers hosting their own Illume servers.  The signed SSL certificate enables the participant’s browser to verify the identity of the Illume server.  The encrypted connection protects information exchanged between the participant’s browser and the Illume survey by making data unintelligible to any third party attempting to intercept the communication.

Every page the participant submits to the Illume server is encrypted, and every page the server sends to the participant’s browser is encrypted. Illume‘s 128-bit encryption uses the same employed by online banking and other commercial web applications requiring the highest levels of security.

Survey Data

The only way to access submitted survey data is through the Data Manager. The Data Manager enforces user access restrictions defined by the system administrator, preventing users from unauthorized access to data.  Users must supply a valid login name and password. Valid users are further secured by role-based access and can see only those objects to which the Illume Administrator has granted them access.

Users can perform only those tasks (e.g., creating, modifying and deleting objects) that their roles allow. The Illume System Administrator manages users, roles, and project-level access. For example, one user may be able to create queries of survey results, whereas another user can only run queries created by other users.

The Illume system administrator can deactivate users at any time, or schedule their access privileges to expire on a specified date.

Survey Manager

The Survey Manager uses a secure https connection to communicate with the Illume server for checking surveys in and out, publishing surveys, browsing the repository, etc. The Illume Survey Manager application will not connect to an Illume server with an invalid SSL certificate. Once the connection is established, all communications are encrypted.

Web Services

The Illume SDK (Software Development Kit) communicates with the Illume server through Web Services. The connection between custom-built SDK components and the Illume server uses the secure https protocol, 128-bit encryption, and the Illume server’s signed SSL certificate. The Illume system administrator can set up special “non-interactive” user accounts for SDK software to use when connecting to Illume Web Services. Components created with the SDK must provide a valid user name to access Illume Web Services. The Illume system administrator can restrict the data to which an SDK application has access by narrowly defining the roles and object-privileges of each non-interactive user.

Web Applications

The DatStat Web Applications (Enterprise Manager, Data Manager, Data Change Module, Discovery) also use https, 128-bit encryption, and a signed SSL certificate.

HIPAA and Internal Review Board Regulations

For academic, medical, and scientific research projects, HIPAA regulations or the study’s Internal Review Board may mandate the separation of participant-submitted data from data that can identify a user. The separation of roles and privileges can help to ensure that members of the research team cannot connect individual responses to individual participants.

Best Practices

While Illume‘s user authentication and encrypted communications prevent unauthorized users from seeing data, survey designers, Illume administrators, system/database administrators and SDK developers each play a role in maintaining security.

Survey Designers

Administrators

System/Database Administrators

It is possible to drag an entire survey out of the Illume Survey Manager and drop it into a folder or application. For example, a survey can be dragged from your My Surveys tab onto your desktop, and then attached to a Microsoft Outlook email message.  The recipient of the email can then drag the attachment back into Illume for editing.

The survey that is dragged into and out of Illume is an XML document. It’s in a format that another Illume user can edit with the Illume Survey Designer. It’s not in a format that a survey participant can fill out. Because the survey is an XML file, the types of applications into which you can drag it include email clients (such as Microsoft Outlook), text editors (such as Notepad), and browsers (such as Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox).